Providence of the Divine
by wolf demoness
Summary: Centuries ago King Enma made a promise to the Fox-God Inari. Now is the time come for all that was promised to be brought to fruition. Can Kurama withstand the final tightening of fate around him? AU. Non-Yaoi.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho or anything else you recognize in this story. This is an AU and has nothing to do with my previous fic, _Moments in Time_. This is a strictly non-yaoi fic, by the way.

Providence of the Divine

By: wolf demoness

Prologue

Once upon a time in the world of demons nearly a thousand years ago there lived a young maiden in her father's home. She was lovely in both body and mind; generous and kind and above all things she was very happy. For you see her mother was the high priestess of the God Inari and her father was the architect that built and maintained His shrine. The God was pleased with the family's toil and favored them in all things. In the fall their harvest was always plentiful. In the spring beautiful flowers bloomed in the gardens surrounding the small cabin the family lived in and perfumed the lands about them with sweet fragrances. Neither injury nor sickness touched them. And throughout the years the family rose in wealth and respect amongst their fellows in the community.

After some years the young maiden's mother brought her to the temple to present her to the God and enter her into His service. As she approached the altar the God greeted her warmly. Inari appeared as a handsome young Kitsune with long silver hair, ears, and tail. He appears no older than twenty human years and has limpid gold eyes, which appear lit by an inner fire or a warm glow that attracts others as moths to a flame. The maiden blushed as He took her hand and asked her name. She bowed her head and gave her name, Sakura, the cherry blossom.

That day the young maiden entered her novitiate in the Temple of the God, Inari. After some time it became common to see the two, the God and the maiden sitting in the gardens surrounding the Temple deep in conversation. The young woman had a quick mind to the utter delight of the God, who often came to her with His troubles and worries over His people. For Inari was a sociable God. He did not sit apart from His people and listen to their prayers from afar as some Gods chose to do, but rather He chose to coexist with them. He took meals in the company of His favorite followers, He engaged in conversation with Kitsune on the streets, and He often came to visit the homes where new kits had been born. He was beloved by His people who had utter faith in Him. Yet Inari was a young God. The faith and love that His people gave unto Him overwhelmed Him. At times, when everything became too much for the fledgling God, He would pull the maiden aside and ask her to sit with Him. They discussed matters of theology, botany, biology, sociology, and myriad other topics that occupied the long hours of the day.

After the maiden's second hundredth birthday, Inari began to notice a change in Himself. For reasons He couldn't fathom He began to ask the maiden to accompany Him on His long walks through the forest at day break, He would watch her at work in the gardens, and ask her to dine with Him within the inner sanctum walls. When out of her company He was agitated and restless. He had an odd tightening in His chest when He chanced upon her in the halls. When He made her smile His immortal heart skipped a beat and He tried ceaselessly to make her smile as often as He could. Eventually He became so distressed that He sought the advice of one of His wisest priests. The knowledgeable priest gently laughed at the young God. He smiled and touched the God's brow telling Him to think it over Himself and to follow where His heart led Him.

Inari watched the maiden tending the gardens and ministering to the people who came to her for advice and for healing both spiritual and physical. She was a wonder and the God could barely bare to be out of her sight. Slowly He came to realize the love that existed between the two of them. He came to notice that her smiles, her true smiles, were for Him alone. The brightest flowers from her garden she'd bring to His altar and she'd sometimes lurk outside the doors of His inner chamber in the early morning desiring a dawn lit walk to begin the day. In time they came to share their love with one another. There was never a happier couple in any of the three worlds. Never one pair of souls who expressed such a pure and abiding love for each other, but alas it was not to be.

In time the maiden brought forth a male child, born of the love that existed between the two. The innocent babe was their greatest expression of devotion to each other and all unwittingly he was also their undoing. The King of the Gods called Inari into His presence on the eve of the babe's birth. He gave a warning unto the Fox-God. Telling Him that to accept this child as His own would be to endow that babe with the divine power of the Gods. Should the child grow wicked he would have the power to destroy the worlds. A war amongst the Gods could erupt if the child was unable or unwilling to follow the strictures of the ethical code the Gods adhered to. Therefore, Inari could not accept this child, He must send him away all unknowing of his parentage and send the mother with him. He must never know the circumstances of his birth and therefor he and his mother must travel to the farthest regions of the Makai where the worship of his father did not extend.

Inari begged the King of the Gods to allow Him to raise His son. He would be noble and courageous, a credit to all the Gods in the three worlds, Inari promised the King. But His pleas feel on deaf ears. And so the maiden was banished from the lands of the God Inari. She took with her the son she had borne the God and never returned to the lands of her birth. Having lost the son that He'd never even been allowed to hold and the love of His immortal life Inari retreated from His people. The God sank into a great depression. Often He could be seen walking in the forest surrounding His temple with tears clinging to His eyelashes and salty tracks staining His cheeks. Friends brought Him into their homes and young mothers brought their children to Him and placed them on His lap. The God always loved the children of His followers, but now His joy was tainted with the pain of His loss.

When they failed to prevail upon the mind of the God the leaders of the Kitsune entreated the King of the Gods to aid their beloved divinity. The King of the Gods was deeply moved by the love the Kitsune had for Inari and for the suffering that the young Deity was forced to endure. He was not heartless. He grieved for the loss that the young one suffered and though He could not relent and reverse His decree He gave unto the followers of Inari an enchanted mirror and a promise. When Inari took the mirror into His hand it would reflect the image of His son and King Enma promised that should the child prove to be honorable in all things then, at the appropriate time, he may rejoin his father. The grateful followers returned to their God bearing these gifts, which He received from them with great delight.

As time wore on Inari watched the image in the mirror grow from that of a cherubic infant to the dashing good looks of a young man. At all times the God wore the mirror on a chain around His throat and He eagerly awaited the day His son would be returned to Him. And so the Fox God Inari returned to His people with an even greater vigor. And the love the Kitsune had for their God grew by leaps and bounds as He blessed them with His divine passion, His ardor for life and gaiety and happiness in all things. And above all they were imbued with His hope for the future and His abiding love for love itself.


	2. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I own nothing here.

Cast of Characters:

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Hatanaka, Hiroshi: (I don't know his name so I made one up! ~_^) The newlywed husband of Hatanaka, Shiori. The father of Hatanaka, Shuuichi. The stepfather of Minamino, Shuuichi, who is also known as Yoko, Kurama.

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Hatanaka, Shiori: Formerly Minamino, Shiori. The newlywed bride of Hatanaka, Hiroshi. The stepmother of Hatanaka, Shuuichi. The mother of Minamino, Shuuichi, who is also known as Yoko, Kurama.

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Hatanaka, Shuuichi: The son of Hatanaka, Hiroshi. The stepson of Hatanaka, Shiori. The stepbrother of Minamino, Shuuichi, who is also known as Yoko, Kurama.

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Minamino, Shuuichi: Also known as the spirit fox Yoko, Kurama. The stepson of Hatanaka, Hiroshi. The son of Hatanaka, Shiori. The stepbrother of Hatanaka, Shuuichi.

Providence of the Divine

By: wolf demoness

Chapter One

It was evening in the Hatanaka family household when Hiroshi Hatanaka returned home with a surprise for his family. Hiroshi had recently married a woman by the name of Shiori Minamino. After a courtship of two years the man had finally worked up the courage to propose to the long time widow. It was a beautiful night the night he'd proposed. That night they'd gone to Shiori's favorite restaurant for dinner then the two had taken a moonlit stroll through the park. When the couple had reached the new water fountain built into a courtyard in the park's center, Hiroshi had dropped to one knee, taken the woman's hand, and asked her to be his wife. Shiori happily accepted and the two were married the next fall. Hiroshi, unable to choose a best man, split the difference and had his son and Shiori's son act as his best men. And so, standing in the very courtyard where he'd proposed, amid the falling autumn which had clung to the trees with a stubborn tenacity until that very day when they peacefully drifted down on the assembled wedding party, the two families were merged into one.

Now when most families merge there's usually some tension between the stepchildren and the parents. Usually there's some type of control issues that have to be dealt with, the stepchildren fight with each other and with the new parents trying to reestablish the social hierarchy in the household. Hiroshi had anticipated trouble with Shiori's son especially. The boy's father had passed before he was old enough to remember the man and for the last fifteen years it had been he and his mother alone. When Shiori had fallen ill he was left to himself and assumed the role his father would have taken had he been alive. The young man was fully able to care for himself and his mother, he was in every sense of the word independent and because he was such a well-behaved youth his mother never placed restrictions on him. She never questioned him on his friends, where he went, or what he did. He was left to his own devices most of the time, in a remarkable display of maturity for someone so young, he never seemed to cause any trouble or do anything questionable. Sure he would disappear sometimes, but he always called and he always seemed to have a very good excuse. Even the hooligans he'd befriended seemed to be reforming under his positive influence and Shiori was happy to let her son use his best discretion in dealing with them. Shuuichi was very independent and Hiroshi had anticipated difficulty in trying to get the youth to answer to him as a father after such a long period of independence. Since the youth was seventeen Hiroshi had planned to give him more leeway than his son, who claimed only thirteen years. But the boy seemed, not happy but content to allow the older man to lead the household and make decisions for the family as a single unit. It was puzzling to the older man, but he wasn't about to try fixing something that wasn't broken.

In fact the only tension in the house stemmed from the coincidence that Hiroshi's former wife and Shiori had both loved the same name and jumped at the chance to name their first born sons Shuuichi. A problem that caused some confusion in the household, but was easily solved by the instituting of nicknames. Little Shuuichi ended up being "kid" or "kiddo," which had the young boy less than thrilled. Of course his nickname was nothing compared to his brother who ended up being called "Red" most of the time. The older boy took it in stride though and refused to be ruffled by the slightly less than respectful sobriquet. Little Shuuichi, or "kid" as his father had taken to calling him when both boys were around, also fit into the family seamlessly. He had always wanted a mother, since his had passed on so early in his life. Shiori was a loving woman who was delighted to have another son, especially a little boy in the house. Her own son had always been independent and serious; even as a small child he was never the type to come to his mother with his problems or even a scraped knee for her to kiss better and tell him that everything would be okay. Shiori, who was delighted to be given the opportunity to play mother hen to little Shuuichi, doted on the boy and little Shuuichi was happy to let himself be mothered by the dark haired woman. Rather than becoming jealous as most teenagers would, Shiori's son seemed genuinely pleased by the affection his mother showered on the young boy. Hiroshi was greatly impressed with the teenage boy; he had a level of maturity that belied his age. He was intelligent, well mannered, fastidiously tidy, and polite. He was devoted to his mother and to Hiroshi's great relief put up no power struggle when Hiroshi moved into the house. He was a good son, the kind of son a man could be proud of.

The only trouble Hiroshi ever had with the boys was the intense hero worship little Shuuichi subjected his newly acquired brother to. Once Hiroshi even heard Shiori's Shuuichi talking his son out of dyeing his hair red. Despite all his cajoling and outright bribery Hiroshi couldn't get little Shuuichi to cut his hair for the life of him though. Shuuichi, the older Shuuichi that is, seemed happy to have his little brother with him. He treated the little boy as a part of the family immediately and spent time with him frequently. The boys would go shopping, out for ice cream, for a walk in the park, or the redheaded youth would help his brother with his homework. Little Shuuichi frequently stormed into his brother's room and took over the older boy's computer while he studied or sat and watched TV on the small screen in the older boy's room. Hiroshi couldn't believe how well the boys got along with each other.

Hiroshi was very proud of his family. They'd gone through a tough time and they'd dealt with it very well. In his opinion they deserved a treat, a little surprise. That's why Hiroshi had stayed late at work the last few nights, laboring to finish the projects he was responsible for so that he could take time off in the next week. He booked a little cabin in the mountains for the two weeks the boys would have their winter vacation from school. It was all planned, on the day that Shiori's Shuuichi had his last exam before winter break at Meiou High they would leave on a two-week vacation to the mountains. The resort he'd booked had indoor and outdoor activities; skiing, hiking, and snowboarding for those who wanted to spend the day outdoors and arts and crafts as well as games in the lodge for those who chose to stay indoors. It was with some excitement that Hiroshi left that night to return home. Shuuichi's last test was in four days time and tomorrow morning he was going to announce the trip to his family and get them started with packing for the trip. It would be their first vacation as a family.

It took the older man half of an hour to arrive home and when he did he noticed from his parking space in the front driveway that there was a light on upstairs. Shining from the corner window, through the closed curtains of his stepson's room there could be seen a dim light. Hiroshi shook his head and smiled. He guessed quite correctly that Shuuichi had stayed up late into another night studying. The dark haired man entered the house and locked the door behind him. The porch light had been left on in anticipation of his return and this he extinguished with the simple flick of a switch. Hiroshi carefully opened the door to the closet near the front door. He hung his coat up and removed his shoes, slipping on the soft padded slippers the family wore in the house. His briefcase he set in its appointed position. Knowing that his wife would leave something out for him he retreated to the kitchen where, sure enough, there was a plate awaiting him in the microwave. Opening the plastic contraption Hiroshi inspected the night's fare. His wife was an excellent cook, though his stepson sometimes outstripped her, but then Shuuichi always came up with the oddest recipes he'd ever heard of. A great deal of which involved small game animals, like doves and rabbits. Shiori was at a loss as to where her son had acquired his interesting taste in food; she'd never cooked anything of the sort. However, Shuuichi's meals, no matter how unorthodox, were always excellent and the family eagerly devoured whatever he set before them. Though, little Shuuichi had asked that no one tell him what he was eating until he was through with it, please.

Hiroshi chuckled softly at the memory and lifted the plate to replace it in the refrigerator. He smiled at the folded note he found underneath the plate. A love note from Shiori. Hiroshi stowed the paper in his pocket and began to move through the house, checking that all the doors were locked and the lights out, before he quietly walked upstairs to his stepson's room. A thin line of weak light spilled out from under the crack in the door. Hiroshi carefully opened the door and peered inside to see, just as he'd supposed, his stepson fast asleep, hunched over his desk, head pillowed on an advanced calculus text. The desk lamp behind the youth's head lit his long red hair, providing a halo of light around his sleeping face that emphasized his dainty, almost effeminate, features. Hiroshi felt badly about it now, but when he'd first seen the elegant, for there was truly no other way to describe him, youth he'd worried that the boy was "batting for the other team," so to speak. The boy seemed entirely too beautiful, and his long hair! Also, the pink school uniform that the youth was forced to wear didn't exactly scream masculinity. The redhead was polite and soft-spoken, graceful and impeccably clean in a way that was unheard of for the average teenage boy. It was mildly unsettling and the youth seemed to fit quite nicely into the stereotype. Not that Hiroshi had anything against gays; he just wouldn't know how to deal with that. However, shortly after meeting Shiori's son, he was disabused of that idea.

******

One night Shiori was working late and called to ask Hiroshi to stop by her house and check on her son before he went home for the night. When he go his fiancée's house he rang the bell and was greeted by the red haired youth and his female companion, whom, Hiroshi was fairly sure, was not supposed to be in the house. He raised an eyebrow mutely asking the green-eyed youth for an explanation. Shuuichi, blushing furiously, turned to introduce the two. "Hiroshi-san this is Botan," he said gesturing to the blue haired girl. What a strange color of hair dye she used, Hiroshi thought to himself. "Botan, this is my mother's fiancé," Shuuichi finished.

Botan grasped the man's hand and began to vigorously shake it. "Oh, it's so nice to meet you Hatanaka-san! I've heard such good things about you and Shuuichi. Little Shuuichi that is, not this Shuuichi." The girl said rapidly gesturing at the youth by her side. "Oh my, look at the time!" she exclaimed over her watch. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, sir. But I really must be going!" the girl bounced off the steps and began to run toward the sidewalk. She called behind her, "Bye Shuuichi! Don't forget about that assignment tomorrow!"

"Young Lady, do you need a ride home?" Hiroshi called at the rapidly retreating girl. "It's almost dark."

"Oh, no, sir! I don't live far away. I can manage. Goodbye! So nice meeting you!" She waved behind her as she disappeared down the street.

Hiroshi turned back to the boy on the steps. "A school friend?"

"Hai," Shuuichi looked down blushing.

Hiroshi smiled and slung an arm around the boy's shoulder. "How about I forget to tell you mother about this and you agree not to have dates over to the house when no one's around?"

"Alright," the youth said sounding immensely relieved.

"It's a deal then?" Hiroshi held out his hand.

Shuuichi took the proffered hand and shook it firmly, "Deal."

******

As far as Hiroshi knew Shuuichi had been true to his word. He's such a good son, Hiroshi thought to himself. The older man pulled himself from his memories and moved toward the sleeping youth. His most difficult exams were in a few days and he was putting in extra time studying. Overworking himself as usual. Hiroshi noticed how proud it made Shiori to receive her son's perfect scores from his school. And after spending several months in the same house with the two, Hiroshi had noticed that Shiori's son would do very nearly anything to make her happy, even if it meant studying himself into a stupor every night for weeks on end. To be completely honest Hiroshi wasn't entirely sure that that was healthy, but he was a newcomer to the relationship and it wasn't really his place to interfere, yet. If Shuuichi continued to work himself until he passed out at his desk every night though Hiroshi was going to have to do something about it. Shuuichi needed to think about himself sometimes, not making his mother happy. Though he couldn't really blame the young man. Shiori had been so ill for such a long time; she'd nearly died once. With his father gone, wasn't it natural for the youth to cleave to the only family he had left? But there comes a time when you have to let go a little. As far as he could tell the redheaded youth was getting between four and five hours of sleep a night. Hiroshi decided that he'd talk to Shiori if things got any worse. Shuuichi should be enjoying his youth; after all you're only young once, right?

Hiroshi smiled down at the sleeping youth. Suddenly he was very glad that he'd insisted on an early departure date and that he'd decided to work late every night this week. It was worth it. Shuuichi was working so hard he deserved, no he needed a vacation. Sighing softly, Hiroshi shook the redhead's shoulder until incredibly jade green eyes blinked open to blearily look up at him. "It's late," he said smiling down at the young man. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

Shuuichi sighed and pushed his chair away from his desk. "Okay, " he yawned wide then stretched and stood. Hiroshi and his stepson were about the same height, the older man being just an inch or two taller. Though that gap was fast closing as the redhead had grown a good three or four inches in the year Hiroshi had known him. The older man helped his stepson to bed with a hand lightly pressed to the young man's shoulder applying a gentle pressure to steer the still groggy youth toward his bed. Once the youth had crawled under his blankets Hiroshi said his goodnights and shut off the lamp in the youth's room before he left for his own room.

As he walked down the dimly lit hall he mused to himself. Shuuichi truly was an oddity. His vibrant red hair and jade green eyes were represented nowhere in Shiori's family, nor in her deceased husband's. Hiroshi would have thought that the boy had been switched at birth, but that Shiori had confided in him that she and her husband had had the baby tested when his red mane began to grow in. There was no mistake; Shuuichi was Shiori's son. A strange son. Beautiful to the point of femininity, one of the youth's pet peeves was that he was constantly mistaken for a woman. A mistake made all too easy by the youth's long red hair, fine bone structure, and distinctly curved hips. Hiroshi had suggested that he cut his hair, but by Shuuichi's reaction, you would think that he'd been spouting heresy. The youth was very attached to his long red mane. Shuuichi's slightly disturbing beauty made Hiroshi nervous. His blood began to boil every time he'd take his family out and catch a glimpse of lustful eyes following his innocent young stepson. Shuuichi never seemed to notice the attention he attracted and that made Hiroshi very nervous for the redheaded youth. The breaking point came when Hiroshi chanced upon his stepson walking home one night. As he was crossing the street to walk with the youth a rather drunken man stumbled out of a bar and into Shuuichi's arms. Shuuichi, being the considerate person that he is, tried to prop the man up against the building before leaving. Just as Hiroshi stepped onto the sidewalk to help his stepson deal with the inebriated man said man grasped the young boy around the waist and pulled him in for a kiss. Shuuichi forcefully pushed the drunk away and, with a snarl of disgust, turned to leave him lying in the gutter. He was rather startled to see his enraged stepfather standing right there. Hiroshi was a bit ashamed of it now, but his stepson had had to talk him into leaving the man in the gutter and walking home before he did something drastic. The **only** benefit of that night was that it seemed to impress upon the redhead that his stepfather cared for him and not just for his mother. Though they never told anyone of that night and they never spoke of it again, the youth was more open with his stepfather and actually began to engage the man in extraneous conversations rather than the polite, if somewhat forced, chit chat that had defined their relationship before.

Eventually his concern had spurred him to ask the teenage boy if he wanted to enroll in a martial arts class after school only to find that the boy was already studying under a priestess living on the outskirts of the city. Shiori herself was surprised to learn about this, but they were all delighted when a few days later the young man asked them if they wanted to observe a sparring session at the temple. It was a festive environment when they'd gone to the temple and met the diminutive priestess and saw her pupils practicing. Shuuichi fought a small black haired boy, who Hiroshi had only briefly seen in his son's presence before, while a boy with orange hair and another with greased back black hair sparred on the side. The orange haired boy, who he later learned was named Kuwabara, and the boy with the greasy hair, Yusuke, seemed to spend more time goofing off then sparring, though what they were doing seemed deadly enough. Shuuichi and the short boy, Hiei, were fighting with such intensity that Hiroshi wondered why the priestess didn't stop the fight. They looked like they were trying to kill each other, and the older man was slightly disturbed that his stepson was armed only with a leather whip while the smaller boy was slashing at him with a very sharp looking katana. However, the fight abruptly ended, with both opponents standing, at no signal that he could see. The two turned and wandered over to watch Yusuke beat Kuwabara into the dirt. When the orange haired youth was lying in the dust, head spinning, Yusuke laughed and helped him to his feet. Shuuichi rushed over to help Yusuke dust the stumbling youth off and began teasing him good naturedly, which the taller boy seemed embarrassed by, but forgot all about when a diminutive young girl rushed to his side. Hiroshi smirked at the obviously smitten look that crossed Kuwabara's face when the young woman with the rather interestingly dyed hair held her hands to his cheeks and asked him if he was all right. Hiroshi smiled at the obviously smitten young man and the girl, what was it with kids and hair dye these days?

The family returned home late that afternoon in high spirits and Hiroshi was convinced that Shuuichi could take care of himself in a fight, but he still worried. It was his duty as a father after all. Shuuichi was remarkable not only for his beauty, but he was intelligent and wise beyond his years. He seemed to have, as the saying goes, an old soul. Hiroshi was proud to the point of bursting the first time the redhead had introduced him as his father.

******

In the morning when the entire family was awake and gathered around the breakfast table, Hiroshi pulled a pamphlet for the lodge from his coat pocket and handed it to his new bride as he kissed her on the cheek in greeting. "I've got a little surprise," he whispered in her ear.

"What is it?" Shiori asked as she unfolded the paper. "You didn't?" she asked.

"Mmhhm," he hummed hugging her close. "What do you think?"

The two Shuuichi's exchanged long glances before Little Shuuichi jumped up and ran around the table until he could peer over his stepmother's shoulder at the pamphlet. "What is it? I wanna see!"

Shiori laughed as she passed the pamphlet to the excited little boy. "It's wonderful," she said turning to return her husband's hug.

"Cool!" little Shuuichi said as he flipped through the pamphlet.

"Do you like it, Kiddo?" Hiroshi asked.

"Yeah! When do we leave?" little Shuuichi asked practically jumping up and down in excitement. Shiori's Shuuichi held out his hand to the young boy wordlessly asking to see the pamphlet. Shuuichi handed over the thin booklet and the red haired boy's eyes widened when he saw the cover.

"Three days," Hiroshi said holding three fingers up to the boy. The older man turned to where his stepson was sitting at the kitchen table flipping through the pamphlet. "Like it, Red?"

"Yes," Shuuichi smiled up at his stepfather. "I've never skied before. How long will we stay?" The youth asked calmly.

"I've booked a cabin that sleeps four for two weeks. You boys will have to share a room though."

"That's fine. Isn't it Shu-kun?" the redhead asked his little brother, who nodded so vigorously in reply that he managed to make himself dizzy in the process and had to catch the table's edge to keep his balance. Hiroshi put a hand on the boy's back to steady him and the entire family began to laugh at the boy's antics.

"Well, go on boys. You're going to be late for school if you don't hurry," Shiori shooed the two out the door handing to each of them a sack lunch she'd packed.

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A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you've liked what you've seen so far and I want to thank everyone who reviewed. Sorry if I offended anyone, by harping on how effeminate Kurama looks, but funny story, the first time I saw Yu Yu Hakusho my cousin and I actually got into a disagreement about whether or not Kurama was a girl. Needless to say, I stand corrected and throw myself on the mercy of all the rabid Kurama fan girls. Please accept my humble and most heart felt apologies for any slight I may have inadvertently given our absolutely kawaii bishounen.


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Not mine!

FYI: I have never been skiing and therefore am making this up as I go along, so please just bear with me. I don't think there's anything too unbelievable in here, but as I said, having no first hand experience, this is my best guess.

Providence of the Divine

By: wolf demoness

Chapter Two

Three days later the family could be seen packing their car and making ready to drive to the mountain. Shiori's son had taken his little brother shopping the day before and there were several bright packages going into the back of the van as the family intended to spend Christmas on the mountain. As they drove to the mountain they sang carols in the car and little Shuuichi chatted endlessly about skiing and snowboarding and all the fun things he was going to do on the slopes. Meanwhile his redheaded brother quietly read and threw in occasional comments, adding to the conversations going on inside the van. As night was falling the redheaded boy asked his stepfather if he wanted him to drive for awhile. They switched places and the redhead finished the drive to the Lodge.

Arriving on the mountain everyone was in high spirits. Hiroshi checked the family in at the registration desk in the main lobby and they all went to their cabin to unpack and settle in. The resort was geared toward families and had cabins perfectly designed for the family of four. There was a large central room with a television and fireplace, a small kitchen, an equally small room connected to the kitchen with a dinning table in it and two bathroom connected to as many bedrooms. There was a room for the boys with two western style beds sitting side by side in the room's center and a room for the adults with a queen sized bed in it's center. The boys began to pack their things into the room they'd been given. "Shuuichi?" the little boy called to his brother.

"Yes?" the redhead asked as he continued unpacking his things and stowing them in one of the twin dressers in the room.

"Can we go skiing together?" the little boy asked hopefully.

The redhead smiled and said, "We're going tomorrow, Shuuichi."

"No, I mean you and me together. Without mom and dad."

"Alright, if you want to." The little boy nodded his head up and down so swiftly that he made himself dizzy and fell back on his bed until the room stopped spinning. The green eyed youth laughed at his brother and, deciding that he'd really done all the packing he wanted to than night, tossed the rest of his bags in the room's only closet. "Let's ask if we can go see the Lodge."

"Yeah!" the boy jumped off the bed and ran past his brother into his mother and father's room. When the older boy came into the room he was amused to see his young human brother on his knees begging his father to let him go to the lodge.

"Shuuichi we're not done unpacking. We'll take you in half an hour," Hiroshi was telling the boy.

The kitsune laughed inwardly and spoke up. "I'll take him. We can meet you in the lobby in half an hour, if that's alright." The fox in human form always enjoyed spending time with his stepbrother. It was gratifying to see the boy happy and he also gained valuable information about young humans. Information that he'd found irrelevant in his own youth. It was only by close contact with the young boy that Kurama realized how poorly he had acted the part of a young human boy. To his great relief Shiori hadn't seemed to notice and, since she'd had no other children at the time to compare him with, she'd never grown suspicious of her child's strange behavior. Of course there was that one time when his parents had thought he'd been switched at birth with some other couple's baby and had taken him to the doctor's to make sure he was theirs. He'd passed that test easily. His body was, genetically speaking, that of Shiori's human son even if his soul was that of a demon. And he supposed that he could be excused from that. He certainly hadn't altered the body he was in, well consciously anyway, and the test wasn't spurred by his behavior. Although, as he remembered, Shiori received endless compliments on how well behaved her baby was and how he never seemed to cry.

Shiori smiled up at her oldest child, "Thank you, Shuuichi." She turned to her husband; "It wouldn't hurt to let them go ahead, would it?"

"Alright, go on," Hiroshi waved his sons out of the room.

"Yes! Thanks, dad! Bye, mom!" Shuuichi yelled out as he grabbed his older brother's hand and proceeded to drag him from the room.

Shiori watched as her sons left the room. She walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. Sighing contentedly she said, "We have such good boys."

"Yes. We do," he agreed.

******

The next day the family hit the bunny slopes. Kurama who'd never skied before was a natural. The redhead learned very quickly, though he did have some spectacular falls while he was learning that had his little brother rolling on the ground in tears. Little Shuuichi had gone skiing with his father before and so was off the bunny slopes and onto the intermediate runs rather quickly. After about a day the whole family was ready to join the little boy on the more difficult runs. It was great fun. Shiori and Hiroshi couldn't get the boys to come into the lodge for lunch or dinner; they were having so much fun on the slopes. Kurama was having quite a good time. He felt like he was flying as he dived down the mountain. He imagined that this was what it felt like for Hiei when he ran. The world rushed by in a blur and the wind blew cold against his face, it was an exhilarating experience.

Finally when the boys were exhausted, though Kurama was trying to appear more tired than he actually felt, hiding the fact that his demonic strength gave him more endurance than normal humans, their parents pulled them into the cabin. Shiori fussed over the boys forcing them to shower and change their clothes before they caught a cold. When the boys were comfortable and warm she went into the kitchen to make them some snacks. Just as she was finishing the sandwiches and pouring some hot water into cups to make cocoa Hiroshi tapped her shoulder. He held a finger to his lips signaling her to be silent and lead her to the living room where there was a sleeping boy on each end of the room's small couch. Little Shuuichi was lying lengthwise across the cushions resting his head on the arm of the couch and propping his feet up on his brother's lap. Shiori's boy was leaning against the back of the couch his head turned to the side pillowed on the back cushion of the sofa.

Hiroshi gathered his son in his arms while Shiori lightly shook her son awake. "Come on, let's get you to bed," she said.

Kurama nodded and stood allowing his mother to lead him off toward the bedroom. Hiroshi tucked Shuuichi into bed and Shiori gave her son a goodnight hug before retreating from the room. "Tousan?" Kurama called from where he was sitting on his bed.

"Yes, Shuuichi?"

"Can I take Shuuichi out on the slopes tomorrow? I promised him that we'd go together while we were here," he asked.

Hiroshi smiled, suddenly feeling very proud of his stepson. "I think that would be a wonderful thing for you and your brother to do."

"Goodnight, Tousan."

"Goodnight, Musuko."

When Hiroshi arrived back in his room his wife was already in bed. He quickly changed into some nightclothes and climbed into the bed with her. "Red asked me if he could take his brother out on the slopes tomorrow."

"What did you say?" Shiori asked sleepily.

"I told him that it was fine. I'm glad they get along so well."

"I am too," she said. "But are you sure it's a good idea for them to be out there alone."

"Their good boys. Little Shuuichi knows how to ski pretty well and Red has a good head on his shoulders, I don't think there's anything to worry about," he said.

Shiori looked at her husband through the dark of the room. "I hope you're right," she said before she snuggled into his arms and let sleep take her.

******

"Hey, Shuuichi! Watch this!" Kurama's little brother called out as he shoved off to speed down the slope he was on, coming to a stop in front of the kitsune with a dramatic flourish, spraying snow all over his brother in the process.

"Very nice," the fox commented as he dusted himself off. He and the young boy had left early in the morning and spent the day on the intermediate slopes.

"Can we go on that run?" the boy asked pointing to one of the more advanced runs.

"Shuuichi, I don't know that run's awfully…high," the fox said as he looked up and up and up the mountain to where the run started.

"Please? I can do it! Dad's taken me on higher ones than that before and you're doing really good today," the boy begged. "You haven't even fallen over today."

Kurama blushed and held his head in his hand, "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"The one where you fell over the bush or that one where you hit the tree?" Shuuichi asked innocently with a wicked grin on his face.

Kurama sighed heavily. Oh, what was the harm, he thought. "If you can do that run over there," the redhead pointed out a higher level run, "without ending up hugging a tree or falling face first into a bush I'll take you on that run."

"Really?" the boy asked. "Okay!" Shuuichi virtually shot over to the lift and got in line. He did the run perfectly and scooted over to his brother, virtually beaming.

"Let's go," Kurama said and the two got in line.

"Hey, kid!" one of the lodge staff ran over to where the two were standing. "You have to have an adult with you to go on this run," she smiled down at Shuuichi.

"I'm with him," Kurama said softly.

The woman looked up; "You're eighteen?" Kurama smiled and nodded making eye contact with the woman and giving her a slow smile. He released just a tiny pulse of youki into his aura, which mesmerized the human woman. "Okay," she sighed dreamily.

"Thank you," the fox gave the woman another smile and pushed his brother forward as the line moved. The woman was left standing in the snow gazing longingly at the redheaded young man. Little Shuuichi looked up at his brother questioningly; he was stunned and thrilled that his brother was lying to the lady just so he could go on the run. He had the coolest brother ever, he was sure of it. Kurama winked at the flabbergasted little boy and continued to move with the line. Shuuichi looked back to see the staff member finish writing on a piece of paper. She shoved her pen back into her coat and tore a strip from the bottom of the paper before she ran up to the brothers. She smiled and pressed the paper into Kurama's hand before running back to her station, watching the line.

"What did she give you?" Shuuichi asked. Kurama glanced at the paper before handing it over to the inquisitive little boy. "She gave you her number?" Kurama shrugged noncommittally. "Are you gonna call her?"

The kitsune looked down at the young boy amusedly; "Do you think I should?"

"She's cute. Didn't ya like her?" Shuuichi had heard the rumors about his brother. Not that he'd believe anything like that. It made him angry to hear people talking like that about his big brother just because he didn't date a lot. He had a lot to study! He went to one of the hardest schools in Japan; he had to study a lot! But maybe, Shuuichi thought, if he got pictures of his brother and the girl he could make the kids at school stop talking about him that way.

"She is cute," Kurama said. And the girl was. All put together with everything in the right place and proportion, from what he could see through her winter gear, but Kurama just didn't think he could date someone that young. Though he looked like a teenage human, inside he was a seven hundred-year-old youko spirit and he had little to no interest in adolescent human women. A beautiful youko vixen was more to his tastes, but where was he going to find one in the ningenkai? A beautiful youko vixen with deep fathomless eyes that you could drown in, velvety smooth pert sexy ears, long legs, firm bosom, silky smooth hair perfect for running your claws through, and a long silky tail that swayed just so when she walked. Mentally shaking himself and repressing his over active imagination Kurama brought himself back to reality. Some times he really missed the Makai. Shuuichi was looking up at him hopefully. Kurama took the scrap of paper from the little boy and pocketed it. "Maybe we'll run into her before we leave," the redhead suggested for his brother's benefit.

"Yeah, okay," Shuuichi said already planning how he could get his brother and the pretty young girl together before the trip was over. It was starting to snow lightly, just a few soft white flakes falling gently to the ground, as the boys got on the lift, but the sky was relatively clear. Shuuichi hoped that it would stop soon, before they finished the run.

When the two got to the top of the mountain, Shuuichi wanted to have a look around first. They were up really high and there were fewer people at the top. This slope was considered an adult run so there really weren't any guides and instructors to hold your hand and walk you through the procedures. It was starting to snow a bit harder now and Shuuichi, contrary to what he told his brother, was nervous about the run. He wanted to wait for the snow to stop before they went down the mountain, until then he stalled by tromping around the top. Kurama was getting nervous, the sky was darkening and the snow was starting to fall faster and heavier. It tickled his senses; the storm was coming in with unnatural speed. Very suddenly there was a drop in temperature that alarmed the kitsune and it became hard to see through the snow, the wind began to kick up, howling through the sparse foliage of the withered trees at the mountain peak. "Shuuichi, I think we should go back!" he yelled.

"What?" Shuuichi yelled above the roar of the wind. Kurama moved closer to his brother and gestured for him to come back toward him. Shuuichi, understanding the signal began to walk toward his brother. He had almost reached the agitated fox when he lost his footing and fell, sliding part way down the mountain. "Shuuichi!" Kurama yelled as the boy slid out of sight. The fox discarded his skis and the gear he'd been carrying and ran, as quickly as he could toward the human. "Shuuichi, where are you?" he called out. When he heard nothing he tried to sense the boy's aura. Kurama was by no means a sensitive; he especially had trouble tracking human auras. They were usually weak, barely registering on his mental radar. Kurama hadn't been around Shuuichi long enough yet to be able to pick his aura out of a crowd like he could his mother's. The moment he reached out with his mind to find his brother he was expecting to be disoriented by sensing all the humans on the mountain. When he only got one signal, originating directly in front of him, Kurama was relieved and upset at the same time. On the one hand he now knew where his brother was, on the other there was no one out here to help them get back to the lodge. They probably all went down the mountain when they noticed the storm moving in, Kurama reasoned. One problem at a time, he decided before moving over to pick his brother out of the snow. "Are you okay?" he asked as he helped the boy stand up.

Shuuichi stood up, grimaced, and lifted his right foot off the ground, "I think I twisted my ankle."

"Can you walk on it?" the fox asked absently feeling himself falling back into the calm analytical mind frame he preferred whenever in a threatening situation.

The boy took a few experimental steps before turning back to the fox holding back tears. "It really hurts." The boy was obviously trying to be brave about the whole thing. Kurama sighed, it was fairly obvious that they had to get off the mountain quickly or the human boy might freeze. Kurama himself could weather the storm, though he really didn't want to. He was a plant wielder. He liked green growing things not rocky mountains covered in snow with scraggly pine trees and lichens struggling to grow in the mountain's poor soil and the thin air.

"Sit down," the fox ordered. There was no helping it the boy was going to have to walk down the mountain. There was no way Kurama could carry him that far. The redhead pulled the boy's right boot and sock off and began to inspect the injured joint. Normally he would have given the boy herbs to ease the pain and wrapped the ankle in bandages with still more herbs to speed the healing process. But if he summoned the plants Shuuichi would know that he wasn't what he pretended to be. He didn't want to jeopardize the secret he'd been keeping for the last seventeen years if he could help it. Kurama unzipped his jacket, took off the sweater he had under that and finally pulled off the shirt he had under that. Quickly he put his sweater and jacket back on; it was getting very cold out.

"What are you doing?" Shuuichi asked holding back tears. The boy was smart, he could tell that they were in a bad situation.

Kurama began to tear the shirt into strips. "I'm going to wrap your ankle, then we're going to get back to the lodge."

"Is their anyone up there?" Shuuichi asked timidly as the fox tightly wrapped the fabric around his ankle. Kurama was not happy with the situation. It was one thing to be trapped on top of a mountain alone, it was quite another to have a young **injured** human boy with him. He needed to get his brother off the mountain before they both succumbed to hypothermia, Kurama's human body, though more resilient that the average human's, was still was not immune to the effects of the extreme cold. If he went back up the mountain they would loose precious time, if he just started walking them both down the mountain he'd have some explaining to do. How would he explain away how he knew no one was up there or why he didn't check? But if he went back up he might be able to find a better way down. Was that worth the time they would loose? Did he really have a choice?

"I don't know. I'll carry you up to the top and we'll check." Kurama finished his make shift bandage and put Shuuichi's boot back on. "See if you can walk on that," he said helping the boy to his feet.

Shuuichi took a few steps, "It still hurts, but I think I can walk on it," he said.

"Okay. Let's go," Kurama said as he moved over to pick the boy up. He started walking toward the mountaintop.

"Wait," Shuuichi twisted around in his arms, "My skis."

"We'll get you new ones," Kurama told the little boy.

"Do you think mom and dad will be angry?" the dark haired boy asked quietly.

"About the skis?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, and that we came up here."

Kurama sighed. "They might be upset, but it was my decision to come here and I know they won't care about the skis."

"But if I hadn't made you wait we'd have been back before the storm started," Shuuichi said in a small voice.

Kurama smiled at the human he carried; "It wasn't your fault. We've just had some bad luck, that's all. We'll be more careful next time." Inwardly Kurama was cursing his stupidity for not being more careful when he was with the human boy. They got to the top of the mountain. There wasn't a good path down that the fox could see. Though he couldn't see very far in the storm. "Shuuichi, I think you're going to need to walk on your own for awhile."

"What are we gonna do?" the boy asked as the kitsune lowered him to his feet.

"We're gonna take a little walk down a mountain," the redhead smiled at the human boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:

1) Hi! I want to thank all my great reviewers! I'm very flattered by the response I've gotten. I had mixed feelings about this fic and truly I wasn't sure whether of not I was going to post at all, but if you keep reviewing I'll keep posting, 'kay?

2) Ermanil Luinedhel Elfobbit. Hi, interesting screen name. ^_^ Anyway, I was so excited to get a review from someone interested in mythology. Greek mythology is a hobby of mine and I'm just thrilled to have the chance to dive into a new genre. Well, I wanted to say that, you're absolutely right. I know that Inari him/herself is not a kitsune. That part is a figment of my imagination, as it the entire society and culture I've constructed for the kitsune. However, I'm not using the original Inari lore in this fic. There is a variant of the "original" Japanese kitsune myth that emerged at about 800 CE in which Inari becomes the God of the myobu kitsune. I call this a variant because the kitsune originated in India and were not linked to Inari in any way shape or from until through cultural diffusion the concept passed to Japan from China. After some time the kitsune became associated with the Shinto rice/fertility deity, first as his messengers and temple guardians then became so intrinsically linked to Inari as to be seen as his people. As a matter of fact the Shinto Inari is a mixture of his original form as the Japanese god of rice, the Buhddist goddess Dakini, the Shinto goddess Ukemochi no Kami and her male equivalent Ogetsu hime no kami. So as you can see I'm capitalizing on one of the many variants of the Inari myths, but it works for my purposes. Kudos, for picking up on it! I always love to run across someone who's done their homework! By the way, there's a great essay about kitsune by Watts Martin at , if you're interested. Thanks again for the review, hope to hear from you again. By the way, what's your take on the way kitsune gain tails and their coat color changes? I've found so many differing systems that my head is spinning, I'd appreciate a second opinion from an informed source. Thanks so much! You just made my day; you know that? ;-)


	4. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Not mine!

Providence of the Divine

By: wolf demoness

Chapter Three

Shiori and Hiroshi were sitting by the fireside in the lodge talking with some fellow vacationers and sipping hot cocoa when a storm warning was announced on the lodge's loud speaker. Shiori looked up sharply at Hiroshi when she heard the warning asking all guests partaking in outdoor activities to return to the lodge. "Don't worry," Hiroshi told her wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sure they'll be in soon," he assured her. Turning to the couple they'd been conversing with Hiroshi said, "Our sons are on the slopes this afternoon." This prompted a conversation on the children each of the couples had.

Shiori kept nervously glancing between the lodge's main door and the clock resting on the fireplace's mantle. After half an hour had passed and the warning had been sounded twice more she tugged on the sleeve of Hiroshi's jacket to get his attention. "I think we should go look for them," she said.

Hiroshi looked up at the clock and turned to his wife's worried face, "Okay. I'll go to the cabin. You search the lodge. Alright?" Shiori nodded and they said a hasty good-bye to the couple and stood to begin looking for the boys. However, before Shiori moved off, the woman caught her arm and asked if she could help. Gratefully, Shiori described the two boys and the woman and her husband began to help Shiori look for the boys in the lodge. After searching every room in the lodge, to no success, Shiori returned to the lobby to wait for her husband. The young couple who'd been helping her look for her sons came into the lobby a few moments after she arrived to tell her that they hadn't found anything. When Hiroshi came through the door he immediately understood that the boys weren't in the lodge with a single glance at his wife.

"They're not in the cabin?" the worried mother asked.

"No, and I asked the instructor if anyone was on the slopes before I came in," he said. "Shh, it's okay," he soothed his wife when tears began to leak down her cheeks. "We'll find them. I'm going to go talk to the lodge manager. Wait here, alright?" Shiori nodded and the young woman quickly drew her aside and found her a seat by the fire.

At the report of the missing boys the lodge staff quickly made an announcement on the loud speaker calling the boys by name and asking them to return to the lobby or phone the front desk. The announcement went to every cabin, was broadcast throughout the lodge, and on the slopes. When no response came after fifteen minutes another announcement went out asking everyone to report two boys matching the description Hiroshi gave the manager. After that Hiroshi turned pictures of the boys he'd had in his wallet over to the lodge staff and they fanned out, searching the lodge and grounds around as best they could through the storm. After an hour and a half of searching and night had fallen on the mountain, the lodge staff readied a search party. The storm had grounded any air searches they might have mounted, but they still sent out snowmobiles to search for the boys. Five hours after the boys had first been reported missing the local authorities were called in to help the staff search for the lost boys.

Kurama was pushing his brother as hard as he dared to get him off the mountain. The boy was trying his hardest, but between the raging storm and his injured ankle they couldn't walk very fast and so they weren't getting very far. Kurama himself was beginning to suffer from the cold. His human body couldn't cope with the frigid weather as well as either of his demon forms could. His fingers were numb in his gloves and he couldn't feel his feet anymore. He'd resorted to channeling youki into his limbs to ward off the numbing chill, but he couldn't risk forcing too much youki into his human flesh. His human body tolerated his demon energy, letting it swirl around in his blood and circle lazily around him, but to directly absorb the foreign energy into his very cells was dangerous and damaging to his human DNA. He began to long for the warmth the fur coat of his fox form afforded him. However uncomfortable the redhead was, his brother was much worse off, the young boy was beginning to stumble as the cold seeped into his limbs stealing their warmth and leaving the boy insensate. Kurama wasn't sure how far they were from the lodge. The snow was falling too thick and too fast for the kitsune to see very far and the wind was blowing wildly, scrambling any scents he might have followed. Kurama was growing frustrated. His human body was too weak, it dulled his senses to where, though they were well above average for a human, he couldn't find his way through the storm's rage. Inwardly the fox castigated himself for his stupidity in not noticing the storm earlier and taking this useless risk when he had his human brother with him. There was absolutely no excuse for a kitsune as old as he was to be caught in this sort of situation. His brother was counting on him! The boy was failing before the fox's very eyes and there was so little he could do about it. Inari-sama, Kurama mentally swore, he was being beaten by bad weather of all things! This was certainly an attack on his ego if he'd ever seen one before.

Determined to do everything he could to save his brother, the fox supported the human boy as he gently but firmly urged him to keep moving. Humans were, by and large, the most gentle creatures he'd ever come across. Kurama would never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to this boy. After about an hour of walking Shuuichi began to become unresponsive to Kurama's occasional questions and gentle prompting for motion. The fox would help the dark haired boy up when he fell and hold him until he was sure the boy could walk on his own again. Eventually Shuuichi slipped. He fell face first down a small slide and slid about ten feet away from the kitsune and this time when he fell he didn't try to get back up. Kurama moved over to lift the boy out of the snow and was alarmed to find that he was falling asleep. "Shuuichi! Shuuichi!" he called shaking the boy awake. "You need to get up. You can't sleep right now!"

"'M tired," the boy whined groggily.

"I know. I know you're tired, but you need to stay awake for just a little while longer!" Kurama got the fragile human awake and semi alert. If he didn't get the boy to warm up soon Shuuichi was going to die on the mountain. There was nothing else he could do; he had to act fast. Kurama began to strip his clothes off. When he was done he pulled the boy's jacket and boots off and began to layer his clothing over the boy's. Carefully he channeled small portions of his energy into his brother's limbs to ward off the chill and bring sensation back to the frigid appendages. The moment he began the process of feeding the boy his youki, he felt the cold cutting through his body as if it were a knife; freezing trails of liquid cold fire blasted across his back and shoulders borne by the snow laden wind and winter chill. His human body was rapidly loosing warmth in the frigid weather. His hands were becoming stiff with cold, he was beginning to shiver, and he was loosing sensation in his skin, but the boy was becoming more alert with the added heat the kitsune's clothes and energy provided.

"No!" Shuuichi began to fight him, when he forced his jacket over the human boy's. "No! You need these! I'm fine! I'm fine!" the human boy yelled out, struggling and crying as his brother held him down and forced the rest of the clothes onto him.

"Listen to me, Shuuichi," Kurama started. "I need you to trust me. We're going to get out of here, but I need you to do what I say." He held the human boy's face in his hands and forced the boy to look into his eyes.

Hot tears froze on the boy's cheeks, "But you need them," he moaned pitifully. "You'll freeze to death. Take them back! Please?"

"Shuuichi, I swear on my honor and the lives of everyone I love that we are not going to die here!" Kurama shouted at the boy. The boy looked up at the redheaded youth, though salty tear tracks still marred his cheeks he managed to calmed himself some and, gathering his wits, he looked up at his brother. Shuuichi's dark brown eyes bored into his brother's emerald-green orbs. The young human has the most intense gaze Kurama had ever witnessed present on a human face. The irises of his eyes were so dark as to be nearly indistinguishable from his pupils, Shuuichi's stare was deep and riveting, an endless expansive void that took everything in and allowed nothing to escape. Such was the visage of the child as he found himself in the extremities of their earnest situation. Now the little boy turned his searing gaze on his brother and the uncommon level of comprehension that he witnessed in those eyes gave the concealed kitsune pause. Kurama smiled sadly, "Don't you trust me?" the redhead asked. Shuuichi nodded mutely. Kurama closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Everything he'd worked so hard to keep was about to be put in jeopardy. He let go of the boy and backed up a few paces.

Shuuichi watched as his brother's crouching form in the snow was swallowed up in what looked like a cloud of steam that tingled with flashes of blue light and crackling electricity. When the steam cleared the small boy found himself facing a rather large animal, which he vaguely recognized from drawings and pictures he'd seen as a fox. It had big golden yellow eyes, silvery fur, and was staring straight at him. Shuuichi's breath hitched and he scooted back a few paces in the snow. The fox stood and inched closer to the boy. Shuuichi was startled to realize that the fox had more than one tail, he was fairly sure that foxes only had one tail, not five! Shuuichi whimpered in fear when the animal advanced on him, but froze in his place, unwilling or unable to move for fear of the claws he could see sinking into the snow underneath the animal and the ivory fang tips he glimpsed when the fox momentarily shifted it's jaw.

Kurama, who was happy to be back in his warm fur coat, was desperately trying come up with some brilliant strategy that would get the cowering human to trust him that, most importantly, didn't involve another transformation. He'd found some months ago that he could shift back to his natural form fox form, though it required a great effort. However, his halfling humanoid form that he'd gained as a youth in the Makai was almost impossible to maintain for any length of time, if he could even attain it. It took so much youki to shift between any one of his forms. Yes, technically he had the power to take his humanoid form, but there was a barrier in place that he had to fight against every minute that he remained in that form. That barrier was Shuuichi Minamino, or rather, his human body. He was in human flesh and so when he tried to take that form that was half fox and half human in appearance he felt a pull in either direction. It was as if he was balancing on the tip of a needle and was being pulled downward in two directions. Eventually he'd fall into either of his low energy forms, the fox or the human. Once in either of these forms he could exist without too much effort, it was just the middle form that was nearly impossible to manifest and the shift between them that was so draining to his strength, physical and spiritual.

Kurama was now faced with a situation. He could not exist in this weather in his human form. If he attained his halfling form the energy drain he'd suffer would not allow him to remain conscious long enough to appreciably help Shuuichi. Therefore, he was relegated to his fox form, which had the unfortunate side effect of terrifying the human that he was trying to aid. He needed to calm the boy, but there were some problems with that; for one thing he didn't want to waste the energy with another transformation, or scare the boy further, or expose himself to that intense cold again. Deciding that his best chance lay in acting as pathetic as possible Kurama swallowed his pride, and thanked every deity he could think of that no one was around to see this, before he dropped to the ground in front of the terrified human and gave a low canine whine. Artfully he gave the boy his best imitation of what humans called "puppy dog eyes" and let his ears drop against his head. He whimpered and crawled forward on his belly until he was within a couple feet of Shuuichi's outstretched foot.

Shuuichi watched as the fox came to rest next to his right foot; he didn't dare move. Quietly the boy held himself absolutely still, fine tremors wracked his body and he was vaguely aware that he was begining to hyperventilate. For several long moments fox and boy remained motionless, each observing the other, trying to anticipate who should be the one to make the next move. When Shuuichi's breathing began to slow and his muscles lost some of their tension, Kurama slunk forward and nosed at the toe of his brother's boot, then he quickly backed off. When Shuuichi didn't respond, but continued observing him he crept forward and rested his head on the small human's shin. He huffed quietly, and whined in the back of his throat, flicking his ear to dislodge some accumulated snow. Patiently he waited until the human boy reached out to gently touch his muzzle with a gloved hand. The fox rubbed back on the proffered hand causing the boy to smile and begin lightly stroking the fur between his ears. "S…Shuu…ichi?" the human asked. Kurama yapped an affirmative and began to wag his tails. He pawed at the boy lightly, careful not to shred the human's clothes on his claws, and whined low in his throat. The kitsune kept the act up and slowly let the human acclimate to his presence until the boy began to pat his head and neck more firmly. Taking this as a cue Kurama darted in and rubbed his head against the boys cheek. He then pulled back and cocked his head to the side giving the boy his best imitation of that look that always made his mother "awww" when she saw a dog on the street do it. Kurama's artful performance was rewarded when Shuuichi started to giggle at the fox's antics.

Inwardly sighing in relief that the boy wasn't terrified of him, Kurama decided to get his brother moving toward the lodge. The young human only gave a slight jump when the fox leapt up and ran a few paces out into the snow. Kurama turned and yipped at the boy before he ran up and grabbed Shuuichi's jacket between his fangs. He tugged on the jacket to get the boy moving in the direction of the lodge. Now that he was in his natural form Kurama could smell the scent of fire and humans coming from the lodge below them. He could also tell that they were not as close to the lodge as he'd hoped and that they needed to turn slightly to the left in order to move toward where the scent was coming from. They'd been walking away from the lodge! But as long as they were going down the mountain they were still getting closer.

Kurama got the boy moving in the direction that he needed to be after some cajoling. Shuuichi walked alongside the fox, clutching at the fur on his back or his throat from time to time to balance himself as the descended the slippery terrain. Every now and then Kurama would pull the human boy to a halt and let him catch his breath and lean against the fox for comfort. They never stopped for long, Kurama still held out hope that he could get his brother off the mountain before night fell. However, that was beginning to look more and more like a fool's hope with every minute that passed. But they kept on anyway.

The boy and the fox walked until just after night had fallen. When it became appallingly apparent that they were not going to reach to lodge any time soon and that the storm was worsening Kurama decided to search for shelter. Even with Kurama's jacket and clothes layered over his own there was no way the human boy was going to survive the storm unscathed without shelter of some kind. "What are you doing?" Shuuichi asked tiredly when he noticed the fox sniffing the ground and diverging from the path they were following. Kurama was a bit miffed by that. How did Shuuichi expect him to answer? He couldn't exactly talk intelligibly like this. There were times he really wished he had Hiei's telepathy. But there again, he wouldn't ever be willing to have a jagan implanted to gain it so he chalked it up to wishful thinking and tried to forget about it.

Kurama whined at the boy and continued to sniff the ground. When he'd located a nice place he led the boy inside. Shuuichi was nervous and paused at the entrance to the cave Kurama'd found. "Are you sure?" he asked the fox eyeing the opening mistrustfully. The fox whined and gently grasped the sleeve of the boy's jacket in his fangs and gave it a light tug. "Okay," Shuuichi said. He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and began to move toward the cave entrance. Once inside the cave Kurama found a dry, relatively clean spot, and lay down on the ground. It wasn't a bad cave; no rodents or other inhabitants, no filth. It wasn't warm, but it was out of the wind. It was better than other caves the fox had been forced to shelter in during his lifetime. Kurama briefly entertained the thought of starting a fire, but there wasn't any dry wood around here and he was too tired to manifest enough to start even a small fire. That and he'd have to be in his humanoid form to tend the fire. The fox directed his amber gaze to the shivering boy huddling in the cave's center. Shuuichi had been traumatized enough for one day. Kurama didn't want to frighten the boy anymore than he already had. Shuuichi crawled over to sit closer to where Kurama sat. The small human boy looked around inside the dark cave as best he could and hugged himself for warmth. "I'm scared," he murmured quietly. Kurama whimpered and moved to sit next to the human boy. He nuzzled Shuuichi's cheek with his muzzle to reassure him. The dark haired boy wrapped his arms around the fox and hugged him closely, burying his face in the fox's soft silver fur. After a while his deep even breaths let Kurama know that Shuuichi had fallen asleep on the cave floor. Kurama settled down next to him and covered the boy with his tails to keep him warm.

Yusuke was bored out of his mind. He was sitting on the sofa at home, after having pushed his mother's empty beer cans and liquor bottles out of the way, channel surfing. His mother was passed out behind the sofa, snoring loudly. Yusuke had rolled her onto her side to make sure that she was still alive in the morning and put a towel down to protect the carpeting, just in case, other than that he'd just turned up the volume on the TV to drown the sound of her snores out. There was nothing good on tonight. Yusuke was just about to shut the thing off and go to bed when a familiar face flashed across the screen. Curious as to what the fox had done to get himself on TV, he turned back to the channel he'd hurriedly flipped through. A newscaster was sitting in front of a screen that had pictures of Kurama and his stepbrother on either side. "…authorities continue to the search for the missing boys, but search efforts are hampered by gale force winds and heavy snow fall. Our prayers and thoughts are with the parents as we hope for the swift rescue of their children." The woman turned to the side and the screen changed behind her, "In other news, a storm warning is in effect for…" Yusuke turned the TV off and got up to call Koenma.

Half an hour later Yusuke found himself sitting in front of Koenma's desk watching on his viewing screen as a silver demon fox watched over the sleep of a heavily bundled human child. "Now that's something I never thought I'd see," Yusuke said.

"Yes, I quite agree," Koenma said.

"Do you want me to go get them Koenma, sir?" Botan asked.

Koenma stared at the screen for a moment more before pushing his chair back from his oversized desk and beginning to pace around the room. "No."

"No!" Botan screamed. "You can't seriously want to leave Kurama out there and what about the boy?"

"Kurama seems to have things well in hand. I'll monitor the situation from here and dispatch you if there's any need."

"Koenma," Yusuke sneered, "I think this qualifies as trouble. His family's gonna find out! You know Kurama doesn't want that."

"Actually if they did find out it might expedite some of that paperwork father's been complaining about," Koenma mused to himself.

Yusuke growled. How could the godling be thinking of paperwork at a time like this? Not to mention that Yusuke was especially leery when his teammate and his teammate's family were included in paperwork the prince of death was handling, but he'd deal with that later, if he had to, right now Kurama was in trouble. He needed help! But Yusuke was curious as to what the godling had up his sleeve. "What paperwork?"

"Ah! Hahahaha." Koenma laughed nervously. "Nothing! It's nothing. Why don't you go home, Yusuke?" the little god began to push the tantei out of the room. "Botan and I will take care of things."

"Koenma!" the young man protested as he was pushed out of the door.

"'Night, Yusuke! Get some sleep!" Koenma said as he slammed the door in the boy's face. Yusuke, never one to take a hint, pounded on the door until some onis worked up the courage to lead him away.

It was early in the morning when Kurama heard snowmobiles outside the cave. Quickly he nosed Shuuichi awake and set about pushing the boy toward the search team. When he got the groggy boy out into the line of sight of the rescue party he hid himself behind a snowdrift. Sure enough the rescue party ran toward the boy as soon as they'd spotted him. The humans pulled Shuuichi into the snowmobile and started the engine. Kurama heard the boy protest, "Wait. My brother, he's still out here. We can't leave without him." The boy's concern and loyalty touched the fox, especially since he now knew his brother wasn't exactly human, but Shuuichi couldn't have raised the issue at a worse time. Kurama was tired, he couldn't transform like this, Koenma certainly wouldn't be happy if a silver youko showed up on the six o'clock news and even if he could transform back into his human form how was he supposed to explain how he hadn't gotten hypothermia and died sans clothing? He had to hide from the search party, moving quickly he found a small patch of trees and settled behind them where he could keep an eye on Shuuichi, but stay away from his would be rescuers.

The humans questioned the boy and conducted a brief search of the area. When they found nothing they radioed another unit giving them the coordinates they were at before racing Shuuichi down the mountain. Kurama ran as quickly as he could, shadowing the snowmobile while making sure to stay out of eyesight. He was already tired from the walk, the transformation, and staying up all night guarding Shuuichi, the run took a lot out of him. He nearly collapsed in relief when he saw the faux timber façade of the lodge in the distance. Kurama watched, as his brother was loaded into a waiting ambulance at the lodge. He saw his mother and stepfather run into the ambulance and go with the boy to the hospital. Kurama waited until the crowd had cleared and crept to their cabin. Too tired to transform and reach up to turn the doorknob, Kurama grew a small weed that was clinging to life in the frozen ground by the door up into the keyhole, springing the lock and opening the door all in one smooth motion. The fox gave a toothy grin at the small trick he hadn't used in decades. Yawning widely, he vigorously shook the snow from his fur before he nosed the door open and slunk inside. He then recalled the plant, shrinking it to its original size, well maybe leaving it just a bit healthier, it had helped him after all, before he pawed the door shut and padded to his bed. Utterly exhausted and assuming that his parents would stay at the hospital for at least a few hours Kurama collapsed onto his bed and curled into a ball, wrapping his tails around himself before falling into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Shortly after the kitsune had fallen asleep, Botan appeared in the room. Smiling at the sleeping fox, the blue haired girl walked over to the edge of the bed. Gently she prodded the kitsune's ear with her index finger to see if she could wake the demon. Kurama's ear flicked back and he shifted his tails so that one covered his face. Botan giggled at the drowsy fox, she passed her hands lightly over his body, barely grazing her fingertips through his fur, checking for injuries. The sleeping kitsune yawned and a pair of tails uncoiled from around his haunches and thumped against the bed a time or two before stilling. Botan covered a giggle with a free hand. Kurama was so sweet when he was asleep, she thought, he'd be so embarrassed if he could see this. Still smiling she prized his legs out from under him and pressed a finger to the pads of his paws to heal a few small cuts and abrasions before stroking his fur lovingly and departing to report that Kurama was safe and healthy to Koenma. They had a big job to do after that. They had to get a fake news report out saying that the boys had been found and erase the memories of everyone who was still looking for the kitsune. It would be time consuming, but they'd done it before and humans were easily pacified. So long as the danger was over they didn't really care how the situation was resolved anyway.

A/N:

1) Hi everyone! I thought I'd start by explaining the trouble Kurama has with maintaining his humanoid demon form. This is how I pictured it. Have you ever seen a free energy diagram of a chemical reaction, if not just pick up a chemistry book. They look like little hills that trace the energy needed to go from the reactant to the product side, with the hill's peak being a high-energy intermediate form. Anyway, the energy of activation is the energy needed to get to the peak, the high-energy intermediate form. Once in the intermediate form the reaction falls back down the hill to become the product or goes back to being the reactant depending on the reaction. The intermediate form is highly unstable and cannot be maintained for extended periods of time.

Complicated, huh? Well let's see if we can't simplify it any. Try to think of the intermediate form as Kurama's humanoid demon form, and the energy of activation as the amount of youki needed to get to that form. So let's say Kurama is in his human form. He puts a lot of youki into the transformation and makes it to his humanoid demon form. That form is really unstable so he "falls" back down the energy hill transforming into either his low energy human or fox form. When he goes from either of his low energy forms, human to fox or vice versa, he just has to push enough youki into it to get over the hill, then he can let himself "fall" into his low energy form. The problem he has is freezing himself at the high energy intermediate form, the top of the energy hill. He has to keep pumping tremendous amounts of energy into the transformation to stay in his humanoid fox form. Whereas if he wanted to get to either of his low energy forms he could let himself fall into the form after one initial push which gets him over the "hill." Well that's what I was thinking of when I made that part up anyway. Yatta!!! All those chem classes finally paid off!


End file.
